You are at netAirspace : On This Day : 1972

<
>
On This Day: 1972

Aviation events for 1972

January 5: NASA Space Shuttle funding is announced by President Richard Nixon at a cost of $5.5 billion.
 
January 7: An Iberia Sud Aviation SE210 Caravelle (registered EC-ATV) crashed while on approach in Sierra de Atalayasa, Spain, killing all 104 aboard. The air crew was blamed for the crashed, since they did not abort landing after entering clouds on a visual approach to Ibiza Airport.
 
January 21: First flight of the Lockheed S-3A Viking 157992.
 
January 27: Civil aviation in Canada is halted by a strike by air traffic controllers.
 
January 31: US launches HEOS A-2 for interplanetary observations (396/244,998).
 
February 5: First series of three SR-71 HABU flights launched at Kadena. At 14:16, 14:18 and 15:22.These missions were coordinated sorties to lay down sonic booms over the Hanoi Hilton POW camp. These flight were designed to show solidarity with the prisoners. (Q)
 
February 5: Airlines in the United States begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage for weapons and explosives.
 
February 5: Aeroflot and Lufthansa team up to operate joint Moscow-Frankfurt flights.
 
February 5: NASA and de Havilland Canada extensively modify a C-8 Buffalo for STOL experiments.
 
February 13: The Soviet Union has started to use Cuba as a base from which to spy on the US. The first mission is flown by two Soviet Tu-95, which surveys part of the east coast.
 
February 14: Luna 20 - USSR Lunar Lander launched. Landed on the moon and returned samples to the Earth. Landed on February 21, 1972 at Apollonius highlands located at latitude 3°32' N and longitude 56°33' E. 30 grams of lunar samples were returned to the Earth.
 
February 20: A USAF Lockheed HC-130H Hercules piloted by a crew commanded by Lt. Comdr. Ed Allison sets a new world record for unrefuelled flight by turboprop aircraft. It flies a distance of 14,052.94 km (8,732.5 mi.) between the Taiwanese base of Ching Chuan Kang AB and Scott AFB, Illinois.
 
February 21: Luna 20 - USSR Lunar Lander launched. Landed on the moon and returned samples to the Earth. Landed on February 21, 1972 at Apollonius highlands located at latitude 3°32' N and longitude 56°33' E. 30 grams of lunar samples were returned to the Earth.
 
March 2: The American space craft Pioneer 10 is launched.
 
March 15: NASA selects 3 part configuration for Space Shuttle.
 
March 27: Venera 8 USSR Venus Lander launched.
 
April 12: Members of the USAF’s 31st Aerospace Rescue Squadron pick up Charles Lindbergh and a scientific team from the jungle on Mindanao Island, Philippines, after their helicopter crashed while on an anthropological survey.
 
April 16: Apollo 16 - USA Manned Lunar Lander (April 16-27, 1972) launched. Crew: John W. Young, Charles M. Duke, Jr., Thomas K. Mattingly II. Young and Duke landed on April 21, 1972, at the Descartes crater located at latitude 9°00' N and longitude 15°31' E. They deployed instruments, drove the lunar rover, and collected 94.7 kilograms of samples during a 71-hour surface stay.
 
April 25: The world straight-line distance record for a single-seat sailplane is set by German Hans Werner Grosse, who sails 907 miles (1,460 km) in a Sleicher AS-W12 sailplane.
 
April 26: The first Lockheed L-1011 TriStar enters scheduled service, with Eastern Air Lines, on its route from Miami to New York.
 
May 4: Second series of three SR-71 HABU flights launched at Kadena. At 14:16, 14:18 and 15:22. These missions were coordinated sorties to lay down sonic booms over the Hanoi Hilton POW camp. These flight were designed to show solidarity with the prisoners.
 
May 4: An Aeroflot Yakalov Yak-40 (CCCP-87778) crashes due to windshear at Bratsk, Russia, killing all 18 onboard.
 
May 5: Eastern Airlines Flight 175 is hijacked by a man named Richard Hahneman after departing Allentown, PA, demanding $303,000 and 6 parachutes. After receiving the ransom after landing in Washington-Dulles, Hahneman insists on flying to New Orleans for fuel before heading to Honduras, where he would successfully parachute out. He is caught by Honduran soldiers a few days later.
 
May 5: Western Airlines Flight 407 is hijacked by a 21-year-old Michael Lynn Hansen, who had sneaked on a .38 caliber pistol in a hallowed book, just after departure from Salt Lake City, Utah. Demanding to go to North Vietnam, the Boeing 737-200 first stops at its scheduled destination of Los Angeles for fuel. Hansen then changes his mind and says he’d rather go to Cuba, and a stop is made in Tampa for more gas before successfully continuing on to Havana. He would be extradited back to the United States in 1975.
 
May 5: Alitalia Flight 112, a flight from Rome to Palermo, Italy, crashes into Mount Longa while approaching at night. The Douglas DC-8-43 (I-DIWB “Antonio Pigafetta”) had strayed from the published approach pattern, killing all 115 onboard. Read more...
 
May 10: First flight of the Fairchild YA-10 71-1369.
 
May 24: NASAs first flight of SR-71 (951) renumbered 6006937 and designated as a YF-12C.
 
May 26: Cessna Aircraft Corporation announces completion of the company’s 100,000th aircraft, becoming the first company in the world to achieve such a production figure.
 
May 30: First flight of the Northrop YA-9 71-1367.
 
June 2: First flight of the Aérospatiale Dauphin F-WSQL.
 
June 12: American Airlines Flight 96; the rear cargo door of a near-new McDonnell Douglas DC-10 en route from Los Angeles to New York with stops in Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport opened in flight, causing an explosive decompression over Windsor, Ontario. Tail controls were damaged but it landed safely at Detroit. The cause was a design flaw of the DC-10 rear cargo door latching mechanism.
 
June 15: Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z, operated by a Convair 880 (VR-HFZ) from Bangkok to Hong Kong, disintegrated and crashed while the aircraft was flying at 29,000 feet (8,800 m) over Pleiku, Vietnam after a bomb exploded in a suitcase placed under a seat in the cabin, killing all 81 people on board.
 
June 20: Airline pilots hold a worldwide strike, calling for tighter security.
 
July 20: SR-71 (978) lost at Kadena during a landing accident. Pilot Dennis Bush and RSO James Fagg both unharmed.
 
July 26: NASA announces Rockwell International as prime contractor for the Space Shuttle Orbiter.
 
July 27: First flight of the McDonnell Douglas YF-15A 71-280.
 
July 31: after 41 years in operation, Northeast Airlines completes its final day of service before being merged into Delta Air Lines the following day.
 
August 1: Delta Air Lines absorbs Northeast Airlines.
 
August 11: NATO signs a development contract for the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) program, which will eventually result in the Panavia Tornado.
 
August 28: Captain Richard Richie becomes the first U.S. Air Force ace of the Vietnam War.
 
August 28: Prince William of Gloucester is killed in the crash of a Piper Cherokee Arrow during the Gordonwood Trophy race.
 
September 22: Boeing sells their 1,000th copy of the 727, a record for airliners at the time.
 
October 1: Malaysian Airline System is formed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
 
October 2: An Aeroflot IL-18 crashes on takeoff in Adler, Russia, killing 109 people.
 
October 10: Competitive fly-off between the Northrop YA-9 and Fairchild YA-10 begins, continuing until December 9.
 
October 13: a Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild FH-227 crashes in the Andes. Survivors resort to eating dead passengers before their rescue two months later. The movie “Alive,” is based on this incident.
 
October 26: Helicopter pioneer Igor Sikorsky dies at the age of 83.
 
October 28: First Flight of the Airbus A300.
 
November 10: Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro. The hijacking, the most bizarre, prolonged and death-defying in the annals of U.S. aviation history, will be the subject of a true account reported by the author Ed Blair in the book Odyssey of Terror, published by Broadman Press in 1977.
 
December 3: A Spantax Convair 990 crashed at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife while taking off in almost zero visibility, killing all 7 crew and 148 passengers.
 
December 23: Andrei Tupolev dies at the age of 86.
 
December 23: Braathens Flight 239, a Fokker F-28 Fellowship registered LN-SUY, crashes in Asker, Norway. the aircraft was on approach to Fornedu Airport at night and in low visibility when they hit the ground, killing 40 of the 45 on-board.
 
December 29: Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashes into the Florida Everglades after the pilots are distracted by a faulty lightbulb; 101 people die.
 
 
 

Explore by day

Jump to
 
 

Explore by year

Jump to year
 
 

LEFT

RIGHT
CONTENT